Brother Lee was 19 when he was called to preach in December of
1892. That winter he filled in and spoke a few times at the church
that he attended and at a few other churches close by. The
following spring the Lord lead him to leave his home town and the
church, to go on a mission.
The pastor of the church told Brother Lee that he was getting old
and he had hoped that Brother Lee would stick around and take
over when his health failed. But he understood that when the Lord
leads you, that is where you have to go.
Brother Lee’s mother was afraid that he might find some wild
woman that would lead him astray. He said, Mother I’m going
and that is that. She said, Your as stubborn as that white mule you
raised. His father said, Son I hope to one day to turn the store over
to you, just as my father turned it over to me. You can still preach
and run the store too.
Brother Lee said, I don’t know what God’s plans are for me right
now. All I know is I have to go some place, I don’t know where or
why? God will let me know when I get there. His father said, I
think you are only half as smart as that mule you ride. You take
more after your mother than I thought.
Brother Lee’s mother said, It looks like it will be a long time
before either one of you two will eat any of my cooking ! Brother
Lee hugged them both and said Good-bye. They stood on the
porch together as he climbed on the white mule and rode off out of
sight. They said, Lord look after our son, where ever he goes, take
care of him and keep him safe, he needs help getting up in the
mornings too.
Brother Lee traveled a long way on his first day out. When dark
came, both he and the mule was worn out. Brother Lee said, I
think tomorrow I’ll get up a little later and make a shorter day of
travel, besides, I didn’t bring an alarm clock or have mother here
to yell "Get out of bed or I’ll throw a bucket of water in your face,
then you’ll get up in a hurry."
Brother Lee fell asleep quickly under the stars. The next morning
about an hour before the sun came up, a brief rain shower soaked
Brother Lee and woke him up. Brother Lee said, Lord your going
to make sure I don’t get home sick, it’s just like it was at home, I
wake up wet.
Brother Lee climbed on the wet mule and said, Lets go to work,
God has done made it clear that we won’t get to lay around here
sleeping while there is work to be done. Lets go find out what he
has planned for us to do today.
Just as the sun was came up, Brother Lee found himself at the top
of a hill, looking down into a valley. There was a farm house with
smoke coming out of the chimney in the distance. Brother Lee
told the mule: You see that smoke coming out of the chimney.
That means someone is cooking breakfast. Where there is smoke,
there is flour, and where there is flour, there is biscuits. Come on
lets get down there before they are all gone.
Brother Lee rode up to a sad sight. A small little girl was standing
over a fresh grave with wild flowers in her hand. She was about 6
years old. He watched as the little girl knelt down and placed the
flowers she had just picked on top the mound of dirt.
He heard the little girl say:" I miss you daddy, I brought you these
flowers, I hope you like them. While your up there with Jesus, ask
him to fix it, so we don’t have to leave. I want to stay here, so I can
bring you flowers every day. I know Jesus will understand.
Mommy cries a lot. She thinks I don’t know it, but I hear her at
night after I go to bed. Some times she cries all night, I know,
because I’m awake crying too. We both love you daddy, we miss
you alot."
The little girl got up and turned around with tears still running
down her sweet face. She saw Brother Lee standing there wiping
the tears from his face. Brother Lee knew this was were God
wanted him to be. The little girl said, Did GOD send you? All
Brother Lee could do is nod his head, yes. The little girl said: " I
knew Jesus would send help."
Brother Lee said, I wish more had your kind of faith, then I could
sleep late with out getting water throwed in my face. The little girl
said: Oh, I thought you had been crying. Who threw water in your
face? Brother Lee said, God, he wanted me to wake up and get to
work. She said, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for God to throw water in
your face and wake you up.
Brother Lee said, Don’t worry about it, I get water throwed in my
face about every morning, this is not the first time it’s happened.
I’ve been getting up wet for years, I wouldn’t know how to get up
any other way.
The little girl said, My name is Sally. Brother Lee said, They call
me Brother Lee back home. Sally said, My mommy is cooking
breakfast, are you hungry? Brother Lee said, I could stand to eat a
bite or two. She said, Put your mule in the barn while I tell
mommy.
Brother Lee said, Maybe you should ask your mother first. I’ll
stand right here in front of the house while you go in and see.
Sally went into the house to ask her mother if Brother Lee could
eat? It started to rain out side again. Brother Lee stood there in the
rain. He looked off to the side and noticed his mule going into the
barn out of the rain.
Brother Lee looked up in the sky. He said: I know Lord there is a
good reason why you have me standing here in the rain. While you
let the mule go on in where it’s dry. I know its not because the
mule is the only one smart enough to get in out of the rain.
Brother Lee stood there as the rain poured down, Just like he told
Sally he would. It seemed like he had been standing there a long
time. His mule stuck his head out of the barn with a mouth full of
hay. The mule looked at Brother Lee and went Hee-haw, Hee-haw
a few times, as to laugh at Brother Lee before turning around and
going back after more hay.
Sally’s mother came out and said, Come up on the porch, out of
that rain. Brother Lee ran to the porch. She said, I’m sorry to
have took so long, but you have to understand, you being a
stranger and all.
Brother Lee said, No need to explain I understand, it gave me
another opportunity to talk with the Lord. She said, I was going to
ask you to move on and leave, because I was afraid, its just little
Sally and me, I guess you saw the grave. Brother Lee said: I over
heard Sally saying you might have to leave?
She said, Yeah, we have until November to pay off a loan against
our farm. She said, We have to raise the 28 acre field on our own
and with out a plow horse.
During the meal the 3 of them all talked. Sally’s father died about
a week ago. They had to sell their plow horse to by food.
With no way to raise a crop, she couldn’t have credit at the
General store or any where else any more.
Brother Lee said, You know a man can pay his Tithes in many
ways, not just by money, but by works also. I owe the Lord an
awful lot. I would appreciate it if you would let me work it off
here on your farm, as part of my tithes to the Lord. I have a strong
mule out there in your barn, eating your hay. I’m as strong as a
mule myself and about half as smart.
She said, We don’t even have enough food to feed ourselves until
a crop can be raised and sold. Brother Lee said, Then you have
nothing to loose, and I’m sure God will find a way. She said OK
we can give it a try, we already have the seeds stored back and the
use of the land, until November anyway.
Brother Lee rode into the nearby town to check on odd jobs until
the field dried out enough to plow. A man gave him a job loading
cross tries on flatbed railroad cars. He said, It’s hard work and I
pay by the day, I expect at least a full 12 hours of work. You come
back first thing in the morning.
Brother Lee returned to the farm and told Sally and her mother
about the job he got, until the fields dried out. He asked if he and
his mule could stay in the barn, for them to have a place to sleep
and if Sally would wake him up early so he could make it to work
on time? She said: OK.
The next morning Sally went out to wake Brother Lee up about 5
AM. Brother Lee was sleeping so good when the cold bucket of
water was poured on him. He looked up and saw little Sally
standing over him.
She said, I guess you were expecting to see God, you sure looked
surprised when you work up. Brother Lee said, Yes, I was quiet
surprised.
Sally said, I hope God is not mad because I woke you up like he
does. Brother Lee said, I’m sure he is not mad, I would dare to say
it even made him smile. But lets think of a different way for you
to wake me up tomorrow.
Brother Lee arrived on time to load the cross ties. Brother Lee is a
small man, the other man that showed up to load cross ties was a
big man over 6 ft tall and 300 lbs, all muscles. The big man
laughed when he saw Brother Lee’s small size. He said: You
won’t last till noon, these ties will break your back, I doubt if you
can handle your end of one.
The big man went to one end of the pile and Brother Lee to the
other. Brother Lee picked up one end of the cross tie, it was pretty
heavy. When the man picked up the other end of the tie that
Brother Lee was holding, it became even heavier. The man was
taller and this shifted the weight more towards Brother Lee’s end.
The big man said, This cross ties weigh more than you do, little
man. Brother Lee said, I guess about as much as the cross that
Jesus was nailed to. The man said, What are you, a preacher?
Brother Lee said, Well as a matter of fact I am. The man said,
Don’t waste your breath preaching to me, you won’t make it till
noon as it is, little preacher man.
Brother Lee did preach as he worked and he kept pace with the big
man. Brother Lee would say things like "Here we go Jesus, just
another cross to carry, for one more that has been lost, but now is
found." By noon the big man was dragging his feet and telling
Brother Lee to slow down on the trip back to get another cross tie.
The big man said, Slow down little preacher man, I’m the only one
on this end, you got the Lord down there on your end and helping
you out. Brother Lee said: Jesus can be on both ends, for with God
all things are possible. The big man said, Well I don’t go to
church or nothing, so he wouldn’t help me out even if I asked him.
Brother Lee said, Jesus doesn’t ask what you done yesterday or
last week, all that he is concerned with is what you plan to do the
rest of your life. Brother Lee went on to explain about how Jesus
gathered his disciples, that he didn’t call them from churches, he
walked by while some of them was working and said, "Come
follow me and I will make you fishers of men".
After noon Jim, the big man, was asking Brother Lee a lot of
questions about the things Brother Lee had spoke of earlier in the
day. At the end of the day Brother Lee asked: Where is the local
church located at, because tomorrow is Sunday? Jim told him
where it was. Brother Lee said, Come go with me, it will be the
first time for both of us, to go to that church.
Jim said, Are you trying to make a fisherman out of me? Brother
Lee said, you show me a hole of water and I can do that too, A
mess of catfish sounds pretty good for Supper tonight. The two
men headed off for the creek, Brother Lee on the back of that
white mule, and big Jim on his horse.
While sitting on the creek bank fishing, Brother Lee told Jim about
Sally and her mother. Jim said: Yeah, the whole town knows about
it. It’s sad that they will have to move. Brother Lee also told how
he had promised to help raise the crop to try and prevent them
from having to leave. Jim said: Don’t expect any help, Mr. Barker,
he is the banker that plans to reposes that farm, and everyone
around here knows it.
Jim said, People owe him money, and are afraid to chip in and
help out. He runs almost everything. Brother Lee said, Do you
owe him money Jim and does he run you? Jim said, I don’t owe
nobody nothing, and nobody runs me.
Brother Lee said, I owe Jesus and Jesus runs my life. The work I
do on that farm not only helps out Sally and her mother, it allows
me to pay tithes back to God for all he has done for me. Jim said,
Today you worked like a mule, now your talking like one, too bad
your not as smart as one. Brother Lee said, I’ve been told that
before too.
Brother Lee brought a mess of catfish back for Sally’s mother to
cook, and they were glad to get it. They gave thanks to the Lord
for the meal of fine fish. Brother Lee asked how early did they
have to leave to get to church on time.
Sally’s mother explained that they don’t go to church anymore,
they fellowship with God at home. Mr. Barker, the man waiting to
take the farm, he pretty much controls the church too. Brother Lee
said: No man controls Gods house, they may think they do, but
God is just using them as part of his plan some how. Besides you
don’t go to church because of who is or is not there, you go to hear
God’s word.
Sally’s mother said, You haven’t been to that church. Brother Lee
said, I really think you should go and bring little Sally along. But
she said, No, not right now anyway.
Brother Lee was very tired when he got to bed and slept like a
rock. Sally tried shaking him and speaking to him. Brother Lee
kept right on sleeping. Sally got the bucket, and Brother Lee got
soaked again. Sally said, No wonder God has to throw water in
your face to wake you up. Sally turned and walked out of the barn
with the empty water bucket in her hand.
Brother Lee arrived at church and found Big Jim pacing out front
waiting on Brother Lee. They both went inside and sat down. A
lot of people was there, the man that had hired him to load cross
ties, the banker and his wife, the church was full. The preacher,
preached a good sermon about Jesus calling the 12 disciples.
Jim was well pleased that he had went to church with Brother Lee.
Brother Lee said, It’s always nice to be in the house of the Lord.
Jim said, Do you want to go fishing again? Brother Lee said, I’m
going to go and hold a church service of my own, for Sally and her
mother, they wouldn’t come to church this morning, your welcome
to come along if you think you can stand it?
Big Jim said, I put up with your preaching all day yesterday didn’t
I. Besides there won’t be anymore cross ties to load until later on
in the week. Brother Lee said, Good, it’s about dry enough to get
some plowing done tomorrow. Big Jim said, I think I’ll go fishing,
those fish tasted real good last night on my plate.
When Big Jim and Brother Lee got to Sally’s house, Brother Lee
invited them to come out on the porch to hold church there. He
said,"Where two or three is gathered in my name there I am also."
And we have four here for church. Sally’s mother said, If you
preach too long, lunch will get cold, I fried more of those fish that
you caught.
Brother Lee said: Services will start immediately following lunch,
I preach better on a full stomach. Sally said: I can hear better
when my stomach doesn’t growl either. Big Jim said, A-men to
that Sally.
After the noon meal of fish was over, they gathered back out on
the front porch. Brother Lee preached about - Sowing seeds and
the seeds that fall on good soil, and those that fall by the way on
the path. After the service was ended Big Jim said, You know, If I
bring my horse and plow over and help you plow, that field would
get plowed a lot quicker and we could have time to go fishing.
Jim said, Maybe Sally’s mother would cook them for us, they taste
a lot better when she cooks fish, the ones I cooked was a little
burnt on one side. Brother Lee said, Did you turn them over? Big
Jim said, The side that burnt was the outside.
The next day Brother Lee woke up wet again. He heard Big Jim’s
voice say: Get up or I’ll throw another bucket on you, what do you
want to do, sleep all day, the sun will be up in half an hour?
Brother Lee said, You have been talking to Sally haven’t you? Big
Jim said, No, Why?
Brother Lee got up and said, Never mind, I’ll tell you later. A few
minutes later Sally came carring a bucket of water into the barn to
wake Brother Lee up with . She saw that he was already up and
that Big Jim was there. Brother Lee said, There is no use to waste
good water after it’s been carried. He took the bucket of water
from Sally and threw it on Jim.
Sally got a good laugh out of that and so did Brother Lee and Big
Jim. Jim said, I guess that’s one way to start off the day. Brother
Lee said, All mine seem to start off like that. Jim said: What do
you mean? Brother Lee said, I’ll tell you later, that is if you can
keep up with me plowing. Jim said, I’ll look back every now and
again to see how your doing, I might even stop and wait on you for
a while, if you get to far behind.
They spent that spring and that Summer together farming, fishing
and loading cross ties during the week. On Sundays they went to
church in the morning and held church (after the noon meal) on
the front porch with Sally and her mother.
People in the community watched how hard the two men worked
and when there wasn’t cross ties to load or farm work to be done
in the field, they watched them go fishing. Big Jim gave his life
over to Christ on one of those fish trips, and Brother Lee baptized
him in the water hole where they always fished. It wasn’t planned
that way, but thats where they just happened to be at when Big Jim
was saved.
Brother Lee said: No use in putting it off, so they laid down their
fishing poles and waded in. Big Jim went down under water filthy
with sin and was raised up out of the water clean and white as
snow. They walked back to the farm. While standing there, they
were looking over the crop that was ready for harvest.
Brother Lee said, The harvest is bountiful, but the laborers few.
The preacher from the church rode up and asked if Brother Lee
would like to speak along with 2 other men at church Sunday
night? The preacher said: You each can take about 10 minutes to
say a few words. Brother Lee said, I’d be glad to.
The next night was Sunday night and Brother Lee and the other 2
men where seated behind where the preacher stood to preach. The
preacher came up to the 3 men and said: Mr. Barker and some of
the other members of the church said not to talk about Hell or
tithes or anything sad that is in the Bible.
Brother Lee watched as the other 2 men scratched out notes and
scribbled out new ones on pieces of paper, while the preacher of
the church was opening up the services. Then the first man got up
and spoke on Jesus healing the sick and forgiving sin. The second
man, when it came his turn speak, he spoke on Moses and of the
burning bush.
Both men stayed within the 10 minutes allotted to them to speak.
It was now Brother Lee’s turn to speak to the crowd gathered in
the church. Brother Lee took his Bible in his hand and stepped up
to the pulpit.
Brother Lee said, First let me congratulate my fellow speakers here
tonight on the fine job that they did, and to the preacher of this
church, on what a fine job he has been doing. I’ve listened to his
sermons for several months now and each one has been excellent.
That is why we all came here tonight, it was to hear God’s word.
Tonight your going to hear it too, You only want to hear about
good things or happy things. You want to hear about what God
will do for you and not about what you are to do for God. You
think all God expects from you is for you to show up for church
and that is it, thats all you have to do! Somebody needs to throw a
bucket of water in your face and wake you up, your dreaming.
God doesn’t owe you anything, Jesus doesn’t owe you any thing,
you owe Jesus because he died for you on that cross, not because
of things he done, but because of the sins that you and I have
done. It’s our fault he had to die like that. Jesus said Give to
Caesar What is Caesuras, and give to God what is God? Jesus is
talking about Tithes and thing done for the Lords work!
That means pay your taxes, pay your bills, pay God his Tithes!
Tithes can be work, food, your time or what ever God ask of you,
Pay it! Do you think that you can hold out on God and he won’t
know it? The Bible says: Not a sparrow falls from a limb that God
doesn’t know about.
If your neighbor is sick and you know he can’t feed his animals, or
she can’t cook for her kids. Go feed the animals, cook for the
kids, thats paying tithes to God. You will be paid for it, maybe not
in this life, but in the next. God sure is not going to let the likes of
us out do him in good deeds.
By faith are you saved. If you don’t have faith, then he doesn’t
know you, and if he doesn’t know you, your going to HELL!
I would hate to think, that if someone asked me, What have you
done for God? The best answer I could give was, I went to church
every Sunday.
Have you read in the Bible what it says about- If you burden a
widow? If you don’t help her when you can, your placing a
burden on her that shouldn’t be there. If you burden a widow, you
better run and try to hide. It won’t do you any good, but you can
try, because God knows what rock you crawled under.
If you don’t read the bad parts, the ones you call unhappy stuff,
how are you going to know what God expects you to do? When
your standing in front of the Pearly Gates, that is not the time to
find out. You say: Jesus I didn’t know, nobody told me these
things when I was alive. You can’t use that excuses now because I
just told you.
You come to church to hear God’s word, and you heard it. That
rock, if your still planning on crawling under it, make sure it is out
in the desert someplace so you can start getting use to the heat,
you know what I’m talking about, and God knows you know.
Brother Lee gave the services back over to the pastor of the
church. Brother Lee might have took more than the ten minutes
that he was to speak, but he is not very good about getting up or
down on time.
The next day he was awaken by Sally, she came running into the
barn saying: Brother Lee, Brother Lee. He jumped up to see what
was a matter. Sally said, come look at all the people here to help
out, even the banker and his wife, the preacher and everybody is
here. Sally said, God sure did throw water in a lot of peoples faces
this morning to get them awake and send them here. I knew Jesus
wouldn’t let us down.
Brother Lee said, Sally you have the faith that moves mountains.
The crop was harvested, all in one day, and the banker bought the
crop and signed off the farm loan as PAID IN FULL. Brother Lee
said, His work was done here. Big Jim said God is leading him to
go with Brother Lee for a while at least. Brother Lee said:Get on
your horse and lets go before God throws a bucket of water on
both of us, he don’t like it when your wasting time and there is
work to be done.
Brother Lee and Big Jim said, Good-bye to Sally and her mother.
The two men rode off not knowing where they would wind up, but
where ever it was, God would lead them there.
